1 Samuel 1:18

_NOW HANNAH, SHE SPAKE IN HER HEART; ONLY HER LIPS MOVED, BUT HER VOICE WAS NOT HEARD: THEREFORE ELI THOUGHT SHE HAD BEEN DRUNKEN._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

9-18 Hannah mingled tears with her prayers; she considered the mercy of our God, who knows the troubled soul. God gives us leave, in prayer, not only to ask good things in general, but to mention that special good thing we most need and desire. She spoke softly, none could hear her. Hereby she testified her belief of God's knowledge of the heart and its desires. Eli was high priest, and judge in Israel. It ill becomes us to be rash and hasty in censures of others, and to think people guilty of bad things while the matter is doubtful and unproved. Hannah did not retort the charge, and upbraid Eli with the wicked conduct of his own sons. When we are at any time unjustly censured, we have need to set a double watch before the door of our lips, that we do not return censure for censure. Hannah thought it enough to clear herself, and so must we. Eli was willing to acknowledge his mistake. Ha...

Verse 1 Samuel 1:18. _LET THINE HANDMAID FIND GRACE_] Continue to think favourably of me, and to pray for me....

A beautiful example of the composing influence of prayer. Hannah had cast her burden upon the Lord, and so her own spirit was relieved of its load. She now returned to the family feast, and ate her portion with a cheerful heart. Acts 2:46. The word “sad” is not in the Hebrew text, but it fairly supplies the meaning intended....

AND SHE SAID, LET THINE HANDMAID FIND GRACE IN THY SIGHT,.... She had found favour in his sight she perceives, and she desires it might be continued and increased; and that as he had prayed for her, he would still use his interest at the throne of grace for her: SO THE WOMAN WENT HER WAY; took her leave of Eli, and went from the tabernacle to her husband: and did eat; what remained of the peace offerings, which were to be eaten that night, and not left till the morning; and though she would not eat her dinner, her heart was so full of grief, yet she could now make a good supper, being eased and relieved in her mind: AND HER COUNTENANCE WAS NO MORE SAD; sorrowful and dejected, but cheerful, brisk, and lively; believing that her prayers, and those of the high priest, would be answered....

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. SAMUEL THE PROPHET AND JUDGE 1. The Birth and Childhood of Samuel CHAPTER 1 _ 1. Elkanah and his wives (1 Samuel 1:1)_ 2. Hannah's prayer and vow (1 Samuel 1:9) 3. The prayer answered and Samuel born (1 Samuel 1:19) 4. The child weaned and presented unto the Lord (1 Samuel 1:21) The descent of Samuel opens the book. The names are of striking significance. Elkanah means “acquired of God.” He was the son of Jeroham (tenderly loved), the son of Elihu (my God is He), the son of Tohu (prostration), the son of Zuph (honeycomb). They were pious generations f

HANNAH PRAYS FOR A CHILD. In her distress Hannah betook herself to the sanctuary and prayed before Yahweh, _i.e._ before the Ark, for a son. She vowed that if a son were given her, she would devote him to Yahweh; the outward sign of his devotion being one of the peculiarities of the Nazirites (pp. 103, 105, Judges 13:5 *, Numbers 6*), viz. that his hair should be allowed to grow. The priest of the sanctuary, Eli, a local magnate, also spoken of as judge, (1 Samuel 4:18) occupied an official seat close by: he knew that the religious character of the occasion did not always prevent feasting from degenerating into excess (Isaiah 28:7; Amos 2:8), so that

Hannah's Prayer and its answer 9. _So Hannah rose up_ Simply AND. Hannah left the feast for which she had not heart, and went to pray. _Eli the priest_ Eli belonged to the house of Ithamar Aaron's fourth son, as is clear from a comparison of 1 Chronicles 24:3 with 2 Samuel 8:17 and 1 Kings 2:17, and from the omission of his name in the genealogy of Eleazar in 1 Chronicles 6:4-15. The last high-priest mentioned before him was Phinehas the son of Eleazar (Judges 20:28); but when or why the succession pass

_Hannah's prayer. 1 Samuel 1:9-18_ 9 So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord. 10 And she _was_ in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. 11 And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head. 12 And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli marked her mouth. 13 Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken. 14 And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken? put away

THE BIRTH OF SAMUEL Hannah, the childless wife of Elkanah, is. grieved by her childlessness, and prays for a son. Her prayer is heard, and in gratitude she consecrates her child to the service of Jehovah. 1. RAMATHAIM-ZOPHIM] Ramathaim ('double height') probably denotes the district in which Ramah ('height') was the chief town. It was at Ramah that Samuel was born, lived, laboured, died, and was buried. As Ramah was a common name in a hilly country like Palestine, Zophim is here added to denote that this Ramah was in the land of Zuph (1 Samuel 9:5). But even so, the exact position of Ramah has not been determined with certainty. Mount Ephraim] RV 'the hill country of Ephraim.' Ephrathite] RV 'Ephraimite.'...